This invention relates to conveyors and more particularly to a conveyor support for slidingly supporting such conveyor as well as for absorbing the impact forces imposed on the conveyor during the dumping of loads as on the upper run of an endless conveyor.
In order to protect and aid the endless conveyor in the transport of its load, longitudinally spaced idler roll assemblies have been used along the conveying run and the return run to positively support the conveyor in its functioning. The idler roll assembly that formed a troughing support path such as a catenary for the conveyor belt, used rigid rollers or flexible troughing idler rollers on a suspension system such as cables. Rollers were generally mounted on the cables whose respective terminal ends were held in bearings and thus provided a catenary support for a transverse portion of the conveyor run. The use of these idler rollers provided fixed axes of support and a substantially rigid spaced supports along the conveyor run to maintain the integrity of the conveying run. At the loading point of the endless conveyor, the roller assemblies included flexible rollers to absorb the impact which cooperated with the flexible wire cables to help absorb the shock.